Pop Culture and Regalia!
by The-Fangirls-Umbrella
Summary: There aren't many gods like Yato... Those unknown ones who have somehow survived the millennium without shrines or many followers, but there still are some! Enter Keiko, a goddess of culture. What culture exactly? Pop culture, of course! Fitted with her ever-changing hair and Lolita style, Keiko's finally found some luck in her life with new regalia Nozomi and some possible love!
1. Chapter 1

**1.**

 _Twisted_

 **Keiko screamed as** she thrusted her twin knives into the phantom. Twisting the blades inside the monster's internal organs, she severed it in half with blood spurting out into the air. She glared into the depths of the thing's eyes and spat. "You are _so_ out of season."

With a blood red sky in the background, the phantom exploded before their death was made final with a flash.

Keiko dropped to the ground kneeling, her pristine white knees socks ripping at the hems. Long, azure blue strands of hair fell into her face as she panted, sweat collecting from her forehead and dripping down in heavy drops from her chin. She sat up some to realize her empty hands were shaking; she must've dropped her regalias in her descent back to earth.

" _Takumi_ and _Mayumi_ , return." She commanded with her soft voice. In a flash, two twins stood in front of her where the knives had once laid.

The twins were a boy, Takumi, and a girl, Mayumi. While Takumi stretched out his lithe and skinny body in a catlike manner, his green hair flickering through numerous shades in the lamplight, Mayumi glared sharply with her steely eyes at Keiko. Keiko offered a smile. Mayumi's frown deepened as she turned her broad shouldered torso to her brother, whispering something with her deep and discreet voice into his ear. He smirked before glancing at Keiko with pale eyes.

Pale and silvery glinting eyes in the lamp light, green hair falling into his lovely face… Keiko took in the sight of him like he was the oasis while she was in the desert. Takumi wore his usual ruby red baggy tee shirt underneath a loose leather jacket, black stone-washed skinny jeans that sagged in some parts, red high tops; he was the definition of what every little miss perfect in Japan secretly wanted. And here he was, working for her. Well, him and his sister.

Keiko looked at Mayumi and found the same pair of pale eyes that were in Takumi staring back at her, but instead of Takumi's usual flirting glance, it was a dagger-like glare that sliced into Keiko like a chainsaw and ground her soul up. Coal black hair that curled around her harsh and scarred face, a face that had scared Keiko immediately when the regalia twins had offered their services to her. The girl still wore her signature tight leather jacket over a schoolgirl's shirt, with a small skirt and leather combat boots that scraped against the ground wherever she walked.

The twins were complete opposites, all except for the mark of their shared weapon's name 美 and their matching eyes. Even then, as time passed on and Keiko looked from Mayumi's glare and Takumi's glances, she felt a dread take over her before she reached up and felt the wrinkles on her forehead. _Oh no_ , she thought in disgust. _Premature wrinkles make you like a smoker and smoking is_ so _not cool. I can not have any of that mess._ Immediately she felt her face flicker like a light bulb coming back to life and she was beaming once again at her regalias as she stood, smoothing out her heather gray, inch-above-the-knee length skirt.

"So," she smiled at the twins. "Who wants to get some food?"

Mayumi scoffed before flicking a piece of her coal black hair behind her shoulder.

"We're not hungry." She answered coldly. Mayumi then began tugging down the sleeves of her tight leather jacket and scuffed her heavy combat boot against the concrete. In the dim lamplight of the night, Keiko tried to ignore the stronger feeling of something about to go wrong.

"Neither of you?" She asked, looking hopefully at Takumi.

Beautiful Takumi, sweet Takumi, cute Takumi… From the way he stretched in that graceful cat-like way, to the sound of his coat brushing against hers when they walked side-by-side, to the quick and witty remarks he would make. He reminded her of better times, made her feel safe… That had to be it, right? She loved him? She didn't like how the look in his eyes now were making her question everything.

"No, Keiko. We're not hungry. In fact," he grinned so cat-like in the dark it was almost mancing, "we all just need to talk."

"Talk?" Keiko squeaked. "About what? Something besides dinner? Sounds dull to me!" She tried to giggle away the terrible feeling in her stomach, but with Mayumi looking more angry than usual and Takumi looking so frightening, so sickeningly twisted in the pale night…

"Yes," Mayumi snapped venomously. "Anything but dinner. Dammit, do you have another stomach where your brain should be?" The smart-aleck regalia smirked. "It sure would explain your lack of any sense half the time."

Keiko took a step back before glaring at the wayward regalia. " _Yumi_ ," she hissed sharply. "I am you master! You can't just talk to a goddess like that." She huffed before crossing her arms against her chest and looking away haughtily. Her sweater was beginning to itch. "Especially not the one you're working for."

" _My name is not Yumi, you stupid little ditz of a―"_

"Sis." Takumi said coolly, placing a hand on his sister's shoulder. Keiko stared at them shocked, her jaw slack. She tried to ignore the envy of Takumi trying to soothe his sister instead of her. "Not like that. She can still…"

"I can what?" Keiko asked softly, her big brown eyes suddenly casting down as she gulped. Strands of blue hair caught in her lashes. She blinked quickly, but she couldn't tell herself if it was for the hair or the oncoming tears. "Kill you? Is that what you're afraid of? Pushing me to kill you?"

There was a null silence before Keiko sniffed and looked up to see Takumi looking at her uneasily.

"We want to quit," he whispered.

She turned quickly, hiding her face and staring up at the moon. Keiko blinked as the tears of shock blinded her. If she had been so sure that she loved him just a few seconds ago, was this a new sensation of heartbreak? Is this what those pop songs were about, the ones she had danced and sang along to with Takumi in the karaoke bars while Mayumi glowered and pouted in some lonesome corner of the place? If it was, she never wanted it again.

"W-Why? Haven't I clothed you guys enough? I offer to buy you guys stuff that isn't even the latest trends, no matter how last season they are," she paused to choke on what air her lungs would take, and a small hiccup of her silent sobs escaped into the silent screaming between the pair and her. "I feed you guys… I talk with you guys… I even bought us that three room apartment yesterday." She turned around to face them while wiping her tears before staring at them coldly. "Now you're going to leave just because you think I'm dumb, despite all the preparations and technicalities I take care of for us?"

Mayumi's jaw dropped a little while Takumi pushed his sister behind him some. "We have our reasons, Keiko. We didn't make you get that three room apartment. Besides, you of all gods should know that regalia aren't always permanent." While her face didn't betray her emotions, Keiko took a step back in shock at Takumi's words. It felt like she had just been slapped. _How dare he speak to me about that._ "You have no reason to play this guilt card." His eyes narrowed into slits. "I know you're better than that."

"You don't know me at all," she spat with venom, her face heating as hair caught in her face again. "If you did, then you wouldn't be doing this. But I guess we all thought we knew each other better than we actually do." A piece inside her hardened. "Whatever, it's over." She drew up to her full height before drawing out their weapon's name in the air, a white line following each with ease and grace with of the gentle yet thorough strokes: 美 "I hereby release you."

Their weapon's marks suddenly rose off the skin of their necks like shattered red glass before disappearing all together. They each raised their right hand to touch the skin where their marks had just once been.

For the first time since the first day, six months ago, that Keiko saw Mayumi smile. It was small at first, only her lips, before it grew and grew into a beam that stretched all over her face and shone through her eyes. "Finally!" Mayumi suddenly latched onto her brother's arm and giggled. "We're free, Takumi! Free!"

"Yeah," he said softly, his pale eyes staring at the ground in front of Keiko's feet. "I guess we are."

Keiko watched the two, Mayumi suddenly a cheerleader and Takumi the sullen wallflower. Hadn't they just been debating whether they should have ramen or hibachi for dinner just a couple of hours ago? Now here they were, Mayumi and Takumi without a master and apparently _finally_ free of Keiko while she was left alone, heartbroken and regalia-less. Well, except for Harumi. But even then, how could she talk to him when she hadn't even bothered acknowledging his existence for months?

She took in a deep breath of air through her nose before brushing her hair with her fingers numbly. She gulped while turning on her heel ever-so-slowly. It was painful to move. She really just wanted to lay down.

"I…" She paused when she dared to look back at the twins, Mayumi hugged her brother tightly while glancing back at Keiko while Takumi stared at her with a look that could almost be described as heartbroken. Almost.

 _You can't be heartbroken when you never loved._

"I just want to let you guys know that… I hope you…" It hurt to talk this when inside she cracking like vase hitting a stone floor. "I hope you find a better new master to serve. And, Takumi," she added softly. He stiffened. "Have a nice second-chance at life."

And then she felt it all collapse as she finally turned on her heel and began to walk away. Nothing moved around her. No one seemed to be following, or even moving, behind, in front, or to the side of her. Keiko was alone. All except for the moon. She looked at the moon as she walked for a second and smiled. Yeah, at least she had the moon.

"KEIKO, _WAIT!_ "

She paused to hear sneakers scrape as someone ran up from behind her and caught her by her shoulder, trying to whirl her around. She refused to even budge.

"What now, Takumi? Haven't you and your sister taken enough from me in one night?" She whispered, her voice to dulled and tired for her to put even the slightest bit of spite into it. Her shoulder felt icy at the feel of Takumi's grip on her wool sweater.

Heavy breathing. Looser grip on her shoulder. Soft voice. "I just wanted to… to let you know something." Gasping for breath.

Had she really walked that far? It had felt like only seconds, maybe a couple of feet. Nothing had changed at the pavement when she had been walking it all just blurred together and she knew looking at the moon would've only made her even lonelier.

"What, Takumi?" So tired. So carved out. So empty. So… numb.

"I think… I thought it would be only fair… to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"I lo―"

" _NO!_ " Keiko suddenly, a white-hot flash of heart-aching pain and rage flushed inside her. She spun with an outstretched hand and felt her knuckles hit his cheekbone. A sharp cheekbone, making her knuckles ache immediately. She raised her knee that slammed into his stomach as she kicked him back. She spat at him as he fell the ground. "Don't you _dare_ lie to a god, no matter what they are the god of! I am a goddess of culture, a goddess of pop culture nonetheless. I am above you and I don't need to suddenly take pity on you for betraying me and then trying to repay me with your selfish _lies_. You do not know what love is, at least, not the kind that you speak of! I loved _you_ and you and your sister took advantage of that, using me for everything you were selfish and lazy to get yourselves.

"You were divine instruments of a goddess who wanted nothing less than the best for you. I tried to make you happy, comfortable, to make your second-life a beautiful thing that I could ever have the pleasure of being apart of. Now I see that _you_ were the one who should've felt lucky. You still should be." She couldn't help but smile wickedly, despite the unfeeling nature inside. "I still could kill you right now."

" **Am I really** this desperate?" Keiko sighed, smoothing out the card in her fingers.

DELIVERY GOD YATO 3 090-XXXX-##3X was scrawled on the small business card (it felt more like a cheap index card, to be perfectly honest) in messy handwriting. She remembered the day she found it lying on the street, abandoned in a pile of similar cards right in front of freshly spray painted graffiti. Keiko remembered giggling at memories of Yato, calling him and flirting with him. Silly jobs for a silly pair.

She slumped against her bedroom wall some more before pressing the card against her bare knee and pulling down the silky lace skirt of her dress with one hand and pulling up her socks with the other. She reached over and grabbed her pair of blushing pink rose colored, old-fashioned styled lace up pumps before pulling them on, tying the laces delicately in that not-too-tight yet still chic looking way.

Standing, she walked out with heels clicking on the wooden floors of her apartment to the front door. She picked the small wool jacket off the coat stand, slipping it on and pulling out her long blue hair when the strands got caught in between the dress and her coat. Smoothing out her pretty pink dress with a high frilly white collar, puffy petticoat, bow dead on the waist, and all the sleekness of what every Lolita in Japan dreamed of, Keiko finally placed her small pink cap, the one with the white seams.

Taking in a deep breath, she looked at her image in the full length body mirror that hung on the back of the front door. She looked taller with the heels, cute yet formal in her outfit, and absolutely just like a Hatsune Miku lookalike with her long blue hair hanging down all to the backs of her knees and her makeup done to perfection, her eyes look bigger and her lips fuller.

"I am Keiko, goddess of pop culture," she said to her reflection, picking up her bag and slipping her phone and the card into the front pocket. "And I am only calling Yato on professional business. Nothing more, nothing less." She stared longer into the mirror and saw her pupils begin to dilate. She giggled a little, feeling the weight lift off of her chest seamlessly. "Heh, who am I kidding?"

Walking out her. Locking it behind her. Skip down the stairs. To the street. Down some more. To the stop light. Stop. Pull out the phone. Pull out the card. Stare. Sigh.

Contacts: _Cat-Boy Beyotch_

"Heh."

Dial.

 _Ring…_

 _Ring…_

"Delivery God Yato, at your service!"

Smile.

"Hey there, Cat-Boy."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

 _Lundy's Sneeze (Hell Ensues)_

 **Wendland hated to** admit it, but she liked the world conferences. She sat defiantly as far away from Germany as she could get, and ended up on a rounded corner and on a stool just like Lundy. But unlike Lundy, she did not have to move for she was in between two very relaxed countries known as Italy, who was to the right of her and wouldn't stop chatting about pasta and Germany, and Greece, who was legitimately sleeping through all of it.

"Do you only like to talk about Germany and pasta?" Wendland finally asked Italy, who really seemed to be going back-and-forth between being really happy or really frightened by Wendland. The small country shrugged and twirled his cowlick with his finger. He seemed to be going with the latter this time that she had snapped at him.

"I don't really care for much, and right now Mr. Germany is a very close friend of mine! Isn't he your Big Brother?"

Wendland was about to finally slam her battleaxe into the table (or perhaps even Italy's head) when she spotted a familiar puffin perched on an even more familiar blonde's shoulder. Wendland felt her face heat up as the overly timid, shy, and painfully awkward Lundy was trying to dip out on their chance of becoming actual countries once again.

She jumped up from her chair so quickly it fell back with a clatter and slammed her protesting sign against the table. The room went so silent for a split second that you could've heard a pin drop.

" _LUNDY!_ "

The small girl froze at the door before turning around and smiling awkwardly, obviously trying to look anywhere but into someone's eyes. "Yes, Wendland?"

"Are you trying to skip out on becoming your own country _again?_ Come on, we've finally made it to a world meeting and I was about to present our case!" Wendland was getting angry and her fingers twitched at her side for her axe. "We're never going to actually _become_ countries if you keep leaving the moment we get our chance just because you're scared of attention!"

Lundy blushed before finally looking down at the ground. "I'm not feeling very well and Martin thought we should… ah, ah-"

Wendland froze before realizing what was about to happen. She saw Lundy's eyes glaze over, her face twitch, her runny nose scrunching up, her eyes started to close, her breaths becoming more shallow, and Wendland knew hell was about to come.

"Everybody hit the deck!" she screamed at the top of her lungs before hitting the floor. All but two dropped.

Germany and England stood up at the same time and began to yell at the micronations right before absolute hell ensued.

"Wendland, what in blazing hells is this all about?! Becoming your own country; that's absurd! You're barely bigger than a campsite!"

"Lundy, what the bloody hell do you think you're when you're sick like this? Going out there―where you'll only get sicker for sure? Bollocks Lundy, and you wonder why I keep telling you that you couldn't last a day being independent!"

" _ACHOO!_ "

Germany and England fell back onto the floor.

The windows rattled.

The walls shook.

Then everything stopped.

Everything was silent once more.

 **"** **Well Lundy, you've** certainly scared the hell out of them now. Now this is our chance to show them we mean business and that we deserve to be our own countries!" Wendland smirked at the quivering countries in the farthest corner of the room, especially at the quivering England sulking on the floor, muttering to himself incoherently.

 _Good. One controlling country out of the way… probably. He did seem very fraternal―if not even paternal―to Lundy. I'll have to show him that she can live independently without him hovering over her all the time. Not that he had been doing a good of that in the first place,_ Wendland thought to herself, making quick and tense eye contact with Germany before huffing and looking away. She then found herself looking at the short, slim Asian man who was looking at her and the sweat-dropping Lundy very curiously with his flat brown eyes. His brown-black hair fell short, almost like Lundy's but much more thin, choppy, and shorter. Wendland was trying to figure out what country he was based on his white naval outfit with the pretty gold accents when Lundy's unusually whiny and upsetted voice filled her eyes.

"But I didn't want to scare them! Oh Martin, stop shaking. I sneeze all the time at home," she moaned in aggravation, cuddling the melodramatic puffin to her chest. The bird had pretended to have gone stiff from fear and shock. Wendland was starting to regret not taking the chance to skin the bird for meat when she had first met Lundy. "And Wendland, why do think Big Brother is acting so scared of me after I sneezed? I sneeze all the time, he should know that about me by now…"

Wendland turned to her friend with a twirl of her heel and stomped her foot very commandingly. "Do you want to become an independent country or no?" she yelled angrily. Her firsts were balled up at her sides, and she had that scary look in her chocolate eyes that Lundy had once told her made her want to curl up in a ball. "Well, do you?!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Lundy promised quickly, holding up her palms apologetically. "I do, I promise, but can we do it another day? Martin wants go home to play that new video game I bought at the store yesterday…." She trailed when she seemed to notice behind Wendland. Wendland turned to see a country she definitely remembered.

 _America_.

Back when they were children and met by accident, all before Lundy's history became all too complicated for her to remember without getting a migraine, Wendland remembered how the small island micronation had referred to a small blond boy with cerulean blue eyes who was bigger and stronger than Lundy. He had always either protecting her from bullies or teasing her for her something silly, until one day he just disappeared. Wendland had figured out all she could for her friend, but when she finally did, she had lost her friend to a powerful nation known as England.

England had tried to keep her protected, but Wendland learned from letters she received from Lundy inside her German camp that she had gone through many traumatic incidents leaving many blanks in her memories except for Big Brother England sulking for many months and being very hurt, Wendland's face and her angry voice, Martin the puffin, lots of hot chocolate, how to make lemonade that Big Brother England liked, how to make cake that nobody ever seemed to like, and how to speak Portuguese. If Lundy had any memories of America, it was probably only from overhearing bits of England's conversations.

The man was looking over at Lundy with a curious look while doing a terrible job of comforting England, not that Wendland would think America would actually try something like that. Wendland had kept tabs on him specifically when she infiltrated Germany's office and read his military reports; she didn't ever want him to interfere her goal of making Lundy realize the importance of independence. Although looking back in hindsight she could see how he might've been quite the help; or quite the even bigger distraction.

"Lundy!" she snapped, turning back to the small girl and snapping her fingers in between Lundy's stormy eyes. Lundy squeaked as she jumped and fell back onto the door in shock.

"Aye!" she shrieked in fear, suddenly snapping up with her back straight and saluting Wendland like a proper soldier- if, of course, proper soldiers also quivered in fear before their captains with equally shaking puffins on their shoulders.

Wendland sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. _So that damn bird can be shocked stiff from fear, but also woken up by fear…. Amazing how those things ever survive more than a day out in the wilderness._ "Damn, we're never going to make any progress," she growled to herself in frustration. When she looked back up and noticed Lundy was still stuck in the same position, still shaking hard as ever in fear, she frowned and waved her hand absently as the little micronation. "At ease, you sorry excuse for a soldier."

Lundy sighed in relief before slouching back on the door, her rainboots squeaking against the hardwood floors as she slid down. "Why don't you just give the presentation for me and I go home and make everyone a cake?"

"Ugh, because than no one would take you seriously and I'd have to come to these things by myself. Besides, even if I somehow did convince everyone to accept you as an independent country, they would all reject you as soon as you brought in that crap cake. Not even your Big Brother eats that, and everything he makes is practically crap."

" _WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY FOOD YOU DIRTY LITTLE WANKER_?" England had suddenly shot up and out of his frightened daze and sped over to the two micronation, practically screaming in Wendland's ear. The other nations walked over as well, though all of them much more hesitant.

Lundy flinched at the yelling and curled up in a ball on the floor before looking up and standing up to hug her Big Brother. England looked down appalled at Lundy as she wrapped her arms around his torso tightly and buried her face into his chest.

"Big Brother, you're alive! I was afraid you'd joined your little fairy friends out of fear. You've never gotten scared of my sneezes before…" Wendland rolled her eyes before yanking Lundy off England by the small Brit's coat collar and holding her up at eye level.

"You're never going to be taken seriously if you keep chasing after your sorry excuse for a big brother and always trying to please him over anyone else! Show you've got some kind of a spine and give me ten reasons why you should be an independent country!"

Lundy hung limp and looked like she was trying to shrink back into her coat in shame. "Uh, I'll make everyone hot chocolate, and I can sell you guys lemonade, and you can come see-"

"Yo, did somebody say _INDEPENDENCE_?!" Wendland watched as America then shoved everyone out of the way and smiled brightly at Wendland and Lundy. "Dudes, is one of you trying to get away from bushy brows over there, because I can _totally_ help you out with that. Just start boycotting everything he tries to make you buy and sign a bunch of papers!"

Wendland then looked in astonishment as Lundy then jumped down and smiled up at the bigger country. "Rea-"

"America, stop filling my little sister's head with nonsensical ideas and acting as though I'm not even here! And Germany, what in blazing hells is your little sister going on about―"

Wendland then pushed over to England and grabbed him by the collar to make them eye-to-eye. "Listen hear you stupid Brit, I ain't his little nothing and it's the Free Republic of Wendland to you! And you're "little sister" is actually…. well, she's just Lundy, but you will still refer to her more than your Little Sister! She is a natio-"

" _EVERYBODY SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP_!"

All eyes turned to little Lundy, who was now standing at full height with her umbrella in one hand. She pulled on the handle to show that hidden inside was a sword, which she then yanked out. Everybody gasped as she held the blade up formally with a wicked grin. Her slightly scary smirk then turned into a dorky, lopsided, and childish smile quickly as she turned to the flabbergasted Wendland and held up her sword high in the air like a prize.

"Did I do it right Wendland? You said I'd get attention if I needed to like this, right!"


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

 _More Than Four Walls_

" **So, this is** my life now? As a… regal?" Nozomi wrung her small and bony hands together in her lap. Her eyes were stuck to the space of the floor right in front of the man's shoes. (Was his name Haru? Or was it Rumi, and everyone was just laughing right before saying his name? Nozomi's head was still swimming too much with all the new information she had just learned.)

The man quietly shifted forward before placing a hand on her knee. She stiffened before looking up at him. He had such nice brown eyes, with an even nicer smile. She wanted to trust him… but she couldn't even remember his name. Nozomi sighed before hanging her head, her pale hair falling into her face.

"You're a _regalia_ , okay? R-E-G-A-L-I-A. Not hard to remember, right?" When she didn't make a single move, he nudged her knee cap with his thumb. "Hey, Zomi. You okay?"

She looked up at him carefully through her wavy curtain of pale hair, her gray eyes widening. "What did you just call me?" She asked in a whisper, flinching when the man grinned at her while brushing back half of her hair out of her face.

"Zomi. You know, like a nickname! Just like some people call me Haru or Rumi, even though my name's Harumi."

 _Harumi._

"Oh, okay." She tried to smile at him, but her head was still hurting too much from… from all the _information._ "So…"

" 'So…' what?" Harumi smiled at her, finally taking back his hands and folding them in his lap as he sat back in his chair. Nozomi fidgeted while still perching on the edge of her new bed. In her new room.

 _Her's._

"Well… I mean don't mean to be rude, but when do I get to wear―"

" _ARE WE TALKING ABOUT CLOTHES NOW?"_ Keiko shrieked, finally joining the two. Nozomi shrieked before falling to the ground, her hands yanking down the hem of her sheet, while Harumi laughed brashly.

"Now you care to join us, m'lady?"

Keiko giggled. " 'M'lady,' huh? You're so silly, Rumi." At the sound of a loud sigh from the ground, Keiko and Harumi looked down to see Nozomi curled up in a ball on the ground. Her knees were tucked underneath her chest as she pressed her forehead to the floorboards and took in what seemed to a multitude of physically laboring breaths. Keiko walked over to right in front of the pale blonde before squatting down in a very lady-like fashion.

Harumi stifled another laugh at the sight of Keiko still being so lady-like in her overalls and cardigan.

"Hey, you," Keiko muttered before poking Nozomi at the center of her head. The regalia's head shot up before looking tiredly at Keiko.

"Yes?"

"So, here's the deal with clothes for you― You do want clothes, right?"

Nozomi's face flushed before she nodded, her eyes suddenly glued to the floor again. "Yeah, I'd… I'd appreciate some new clothes."

"Okay, perfect! Well, you see usually I'd just let you borrow some of my clothes, but… well, I could already tell a lot about you from first glance. So I already went out and bought you some clothes!" She exclaimed while ruffling Nozomi's hair before bounding up and running out the room with a beaming face.

Harumi looked down at the smaller girl with a faint smile of pity. "At least she's got better with her stylist skills. You probably won't be having to wear a neon green tank top, in the middle of winter, in the 1980's. Unlike me."

Nozomi glanced back at him as she sat up with her back against the bedframe with a look of harsher resentment, but also a slight sliver of pity and sympathy. "Tragic," was all she could manage to console him with before Keiko burst back into the room, her socked feet slipping and sliding on the wooden floors.

Nozomi counted roughly about ten shopping bags attached to each of Keiko's arms. But then again it was all a blur before Harumi was forcibly shoved out, Nozomi was yanked up, and clothes that were still attached hangers being pressed against her sheet-covered body for estimations and opinions.

After her head had to started to clear, Nozomi finally caught Keiko's flying wrist and tried a tired smile. "Could I perhaps try something on, and just go with that for a while. I'll go through the stuff, put up what I want, and give you back what I'd rather not keep for myself?"

"Oh, hell yeah!" Keiko chirped, turning to skip out the door before pausing just as she was about to close the door. "Oops, I forgot to ask― what's your favorite food?"

Nozomi could feel the of her smile falling as she turned her back to the goddess. Could she even remember that? No, no she couldn't. "Whatever's cheapest for you, m'lady. Thank you for these clothes."

Keiko tilted her head before shrugging and nodding her head to Nozomi. "Greasy ramen place down the street it is then. And it's just Keiko, by the way."

Nozomi could only manage nod before she heard the door close behind her and she sank to her knees, head in her hands while gripped her head tight. Tears streamed down her cheek while her head ached.

 _Why?_

 _Why why why?_

 _WHY?_

That was all that could resonate in her mind. She felt so hollow, so empty, so carved out. Why was she getting this "second chance at life," if she couldn't remember squat from her previous life. How could she know that she had ever had hair this pale, a complexion this creamy, eyes this stormy, reflexes so skittish, and skin this… cold.

Always so cold.

She felt like she could never stop shaking, never stop shivering. Never stop quaking in fear of her goddam self. She looked up at the ceiling and wondered, _what god could ever be so cruel as to be any far-shore being through this hell?_

She wanted to scream, but all she could manage was a small whimper before hearing a bowl drop in the other room. It broke while someone, a girl, let out a soft whimper in the kitchen.

Keiko.

The other person, a male, started saying something to Keiko. Sniffling, the pale regalia finally managed to stagger to her knees before walking over to the door and pressing her ear against it.

" _Keiko… okay?"_

" _Yes… fine… because of… all new… pain… with time… be okay… be by herself… needs time… We'll be fine."_

Nozomi then really realized it as she stepped back and began rifling through the clothes with blurred eyes and shaking hands.

Harumi hadn't been lying; regalia really _did_ affect their masters. Keiko would always feel Nozomi's emotions and be affected by them. Nozomi froze with a warm black sweater caught in her tight grip as something else began to dawn on her. If Harumi hadn't been lying about that either, then he most likely hadn't been lying about the other things.

That if she lied, she could blight her master.

Shaking her head, Nozomi tried to clear her mind of the rolling waves of anxiety and pained hesitancy before focusing on the task in front of her: finding an outfit.

She held up a school girl's skirt before turning to the mirror and pressing it against her waist. No, too short for right now… She tossed it aside for the springtime before grabbing a tee shirt that some random word in English. No, too thin without a better coat…

By the time she had finally found enough clothes to keep her warm yet stylish and pieced together a suitable outfit, Nozomi's gray eyes were puffy and bloodshot from crying. Her hands were shaking harsher than usual as she took off her sheet and started to pull on the black leggings, the black sweater, the nice and warm fleece-lined white pea coat.

When she finally finished buttoning the jacket shut, Nozomi looked in the mirror and pulled out her tangled hair. Picking up the hairbrushed that was on the vanity next to the full-length mirror, she battled the knots and tangles with a harsh ferocity, hoping the sore ache of her skull would held distract her from her headache.

Someone knocked at the door just as Nozomi was setting the brush back down on the vanity. She turned and looked at the doorknob before calling out softly, "Come on in." The door opened and in stepped Keiko.

Nozomi stared at the goddess while noticing everything she hadn't been able to before; the knee-length blue hair, the soft dark circles under her eyes that were mostly hidden by a thin layer of foundation, her brown eyes always so light and happy. Nozomi noticed she had changed outfits, no longer in her overalls and now in a Lolita style black coat that had a white wool trim and a cat-eared hood, with a a mid-thigh length black skirt, and over-the-knee black socks.

Keiko turned from eyeing the pile of thrown and rumpled clothes to smile at Nozomi. "That's a nice outfit. Looks a lot warmer than that silly sheet you were wearing earlier, Zoomie."

Nozomi's brow knitted. "Zoomie?"

"Yeah, I like giving nicknames." Keiko explained as she plopped onto Nozomi's bed. Nozomi sat down hesitantly beside the goddess. "That really is a nice outfit." Keiko changed the subject with a fluid way that showed her skills when it came to talking to people. "I really like the way the colors all go with you, what with you being so pale. You'd think a white jacket like that would make you look duller, but it brings attention to your hair and hair. I really like the black leggings and long sweater underneath the jacket; very nice pairing of black on black without being overbearing. And then the white boots go nice with the jacket. Very nice." Keiko looked at her a little bit longer before a light sparked in her eyes. "Wait, come on out to the living room and wait there!" And with that, the goddess left her servent to wait on her and wait on her the weapon would.


End file.
